Iceland — When is the Best Time to See the Northern Lights
Time to ask yourself why you haven’t been to Iceland yet.
I’ve been wanting to visit Iceland for quite some time. I love hiking, I love nature and I don’t like to travel too far for productivity, efficiency and financial reasons. I find it to be the best way to be impulsive in a short amount of time. Being part of nature is what motivates me to want to live a better life.
I live on Long Island, New York. Where I live, there is a decent amount of nature. I am surrounded by single residential houses that are no more than 1–2 floors above the ground. I get plenty of sunshine and a great view of the sky as well as being able to hear crickets at night during the summer.
But my view is nowhere near as majestic as the picture above.
When you don’t have Northern Lights to gaze upon
For at least six months of a year, my neighbors don their front yards with inflatable decorations and bright lights in colors ranging from yellow, white, orange, green, red and blue during holidays like Halloween and Christmas.
To give you a glimpse of what that looks like, imagine Santa and his penguins visit from the North pole until Christmas time, the 3 witches from Macbeth hold hands during Halloween, and a life-sized fire-breathing dragon as tall as a single floor house to melt all the invisible snow you cannot see until summer time. You can also now bump into the new Star Wars characters like Baby Yoda or Darth Vader glow-in-dark all night long.
I have to admit my neighbors have some strange tastes.
When I go for a run, those decorations brighten the night on earth and prevent me from stepping into someone’s front yard. I love this little helpful guidance from them and I look forward to seeing these different decorations and bright eye-catching lights on both sides of almost every street. It is part of the reason why I love to run after sundown.
“Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones.”
— Coldplay
Before we move on with the rest of the story, I like to give a shout out to fellow Medium writer and runner Luke T. Anton for inspiring me to go for a run the other night. You should definitely check out his story if you want to see what a live bear looks like:
Now back to the story of why the silly decorations of my neighbors matter.
Funny enough, this is how I imagine the Northern Lights to be. Except more amazing, not man-made and purely part of nature.
Because I cannot see any Northern Lights from New York, where I live, I’d been made do with the fake replacements provided by my neighbors instead. I thought it was time to change that so I started looking into trips to Iceland to be able to hike under the beautiful night lights, instead of running next to the ones I have in my neighborhood being inspired by my quirky neighbors.
Why Iceland out of all places?
Because from New York, the shortest flight to Iceland is 5+ hours, which is closer than Alaska (7+ hours) — another destination on the North Pole where you can see Aurora lights — which makes Iceland a perfect round trip for the weekend.
Iceland has a completely different demographic than what I am used to here in New York and very interesting local food choices to offer as well — I read locals enjoy Fermented Shark, Sheep’s Head, Sour Ram’s Testicles and Hot Spring Rye Bread — this last one I certainly will be trying.
I have to admit I had been curious about the slow-cooked meals covered in volcanic ash and also been looking forward to enjoying the hot spring water for therapeutic purposes.
Did you know: You don’t need to buy any water in Iceland. Locals encourage you to drink tap water instead, which limits the amount of plastic waste collected.
How amazing is that?
95% of the water is filtered through the volcanic rocks and comes from the natural springs. In fact, the tap water is 100% safe to drink and rich in minerals.
Now comes the best part: The Northern Lights
According to the Internet, the Northern Lights — or Aurora borealis — is most visible on a clear and dark night in fall, winter or early spring.
The further north you go, the better the view gets.
For Iceland, August through April and into early May is suggested time to catch the lights in shades of pink, purple and green. They also suggest you check the forecast before you head out but it is not a full guarantee you will be able to see the lights, as the weather can change at any time.
Typical time for the lights to appear is between 10pm to 2am so you also may want to stay on the hunt for some lights overnight. You are welcome to stay up until 4am but again, it is no guarantee.
Conclusion
Is a trip to Iceland worth it?
I don’t know about you but a trip to Iceland seems like a whole other adventure to me.
A fairy tale land of volcanic ash, geysers and Northern Lights.
Speaking of fairy tales, did you realize that there are no castles in Iceland?
Did you also know that in 2007, 62% of the Icelanders believed in the existence of elves?
I think it is time we find out if they are real.
What do you think of a trip to Iceland? Looking forward to hearing what you think in the comments.
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